The cyclist, referred to only as XZTT - and who was registered at elite level with Cycling Australia - competed in a race in China in 2010 under UCI rules and submitted a routine drug test.

Two days later the A sample was analysed and a small amount of the main metabolite found in cocaine was detected.

The cyclist should have been told about the positive test within a week, but for months he continued to race and even signed on with a new sponsor in early 2011.

The contract included a provision that would see the deal terminated if he breached anti-doping rules.

It was not until March 2011 that the UCI wrote to the cyclist. The union also notified Cycling Australia in March.

But nearly a month passed before the cyclist heard anything further, and when he did it was not from Cycling Australia but from the general manager of anti-doping programs and legal services at ASADA.

Despite the delays, the ADRVP found against the cyclist, so he took his case to the AAT.

The tribunal has now set aside two initial decisions made by the ADRVP, finding that: "The long delay in notifying the athlete of his initial test results meant that the UCI was in gross breach of its own anti-doping rules and the WADC provisions governing results management."

"The tribunal has concluded that ASADA and the ADRVP each misconceived their respective legal obligations... in so far as they proceeded on the basis that it was sufficient for the ADRVP to reach conclusions based on a possible finding."

AAT judge Duncan Kerr found the provisions of Australia's national anti-doping scheme had not been properly understood or given effect, but that when the provisions were properly addressed, "a conclusion adverse to XZTT must still be reached".

The tribunal directed the ADRVP to make a single entry in the register of findings relating to the presence of benzoylecgonine.

The terms of the entry shows that the amount of the metabolite detected was not a positive finding for use in-competition.

The ADRVP must now determine what the consequences of the finding are for the cyclist.